Six AGs Urged FERC to Bolster Protections for Opponents of Natural Gas Infrastructure Projects

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh led a coalition of six attorneys general in filing a brief urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to affirm and strengthen protections for landowners, states and other challengers to natural gas infrastructure authorizations. The brief was filed in response to FERC’s request for additional input on Order No. 871, which the Commission finalized in June 2020 to ensure that construction on FERC-authorized natural gas projects cannot commence until the Commission resolves pending requests for rehearing. In their brief, the AGs urged FERC to further bolster protections for project opponents, including by preventing the exercise of eminent domain while rehearing requests are pending. FERC’s prior standard practice of granting itself additional time to act on rehearing requests frequently left landowners and other challengers in a state of limbo, unable to seek judicial review while some construction activities were allowed to proceed.